Introduction on SDG's and SDG 4: Quality of education

In the second week of class we discussed the SDG that tackles education. Firslty a quick introduction on what is a SDG and why it exists. SDG stands for sustainable development goals. These goals were adopted by all United Nations Member states in 2015 as a universal call to action to end poverty, protect the planet, and ensure that by 20230 all people enjoy peace and prosperity. 17 goals have been made to achieve this. If you want to see what all of the 17 goals are, this short video shows them all.

As you could see in the video, SDG 4 is quality education. This goal was created to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. I got to do the Pecha Kucha on this SDG and it awakened my interest. If we're going back to the start of SDG 4 you see the full title of the SDG is "Ensure inclusive and equitable quality eduction and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all". To reach this, 10 targets within the SDG have been made which are measured by 11 indicators. For example, target 4.2 is:"By 2030, ensure that all girls and boys have access to quality early childhood development, care and pre-primary education so that they are ready for primary education" measured by indicator: "Proportion of children aged 24–59 months who are developmentally on track in health, learning and psychosocial well-being, by sex". This way the goals ae measurable and eventually somethings can be said about the succes or failure of a goal.

By the research we did on the topic for our Pecha Kucha I started to realise that education really is not as normal as we think it is here in The Netherlands. Of course I knew that being born and raised in the Netherlands had and has a lot of priveledges in all kinds of ways. Never in my life I had to think about wether I would be able to go to school, or if I was safe in school etcetera. And thereby never thinking about how wonderful it actually is that we have the right to learn and to educate ourself with the unlimited opportunities nowadays. In the class about SDG4 two students from Uganda joined us for the day. These two students explained a bit more about life and education in Uganda, and how difficult it is to get education when you life in poverty.

But why is education so important? There is not one simple reason. Education can help a person communicate, learning one to read, write, speak and so on. These basic forms of communication are an absolute necessity in a persons life, and only taught within school. Also, education is important to learn social norms. It develops someones critical thinking and it learns a person how to discern right or wrong. These factors are so incredibly important in a life. Knowing what is right or wrong, what are the values and norms in the society so how should you behave. Not to forget the way it can help you getting closer to job qualifications, creating chance of financial security later on in life. And next to that, education can be very important for the mental health of children (later on adults). Getting out of their own environment, going to a safe place where you are all equal and away from problems you may have at home. The last example, education creates a form of gender equality. Many more reason to mention, but saying in general, education is important for the future well-being and the personal goals of someone.

Reading the previous reasons you might wonder why not everyone is in school. There are around the world numerous of reasons all different in every country. While we know that poverty is one of the big reasons, also factors such as war, earthquake, governmental rules, gender inequality, school shootings and so on have a big influence on the ability of education. These factors can all lead to school dropouts. And this is as we know nowadays, not only in Africa.

There is much to say about education and the importance of Education, not able to be mentioned in one blog. Personally I think that we really take education for granted here in Europe. I think a lot of people don't realise what of a priveledge it is to have the ability to go to school and choose your own path. And thereby, also the numurous of reasons we don't even realise that education has as an influence.

The progress of the SDG is promising, many more children are able to attend school to get educated. Hopefully someday, education can be a right, and not a priveledge. To end this blog, I would like to show you this video i stumbled on of why education is important. Thank you for reading!

sources:

1. https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal4

2. https://www.unesco.org/en/education

3. Why is Education Important? | Purpose of Education | World Vision Canada

4. Why Is Education Important: All The Reasons To Stay In School (uopeople.edu)